I don't quite know why I liked Doakes so much. He was just a well-developed character, and even though he was so rough I felt like he was essentially a good guy. Just not in a sappy, annoying way. I also appreciated that he seemed like the only cop actually doing his job, or showing some initiative.

Julia Stiles is on my TV right now, in one of those Bourne movies. She's being all sullen at the moment, but I'm sure she'll bust out a pirouette any second now.

doakes was one of those characters i thought was too annoying to live, but then i was actually mad about the way they killed him.

This. He made me really angry but I was sad when he died. He was the best antagonist Dexter has butted heads with.

Literally.

I think I kinda disliked him when I first watched the series, but going back through it, I actually like his character. I think he plays it really well. Apart from stalking Dexter, he's the most cop-like cop on the show. Like, if I had need of the police, I'd want motherforking Doakes to show up.

_________________A pie eating contest is a battle with no losers. - amandabear

I think it was in the very first episode Dexter wonders how here he is a serial killer working in everyday in homicide and only motherforking Doakes senses that there is something there is something not quite right about him.

Doakes like him or not provided this constant tension (on top of all of Dexters challenges) of having someone around all of the time who is suspicious and who was equally smart and cunning. And I think the chemistry between the 2 actors just worked.

The show seems to be at its best when Dexter has to deal with a “worthy” adversary

And Quinn just doesn’t seem to be in the same league as Dexter which is why I think as a character he seems to constantly fall flat.

Yeah, I hated Lila. I think 4th season is my favorite, because John Lithgow was just so amazing. And I agree with some of you about Doakes - I wanted him gone, but he definitely didn't deserve to die (although at least it makes sense that Lila killed him and not Dexter, because even though he was causing a lot of trouble for Dexter, it wouldn't have been within the code for Dexter to kill him).

Doakes was doing his job. Even though the series has made Dexter a sympathetic character, he's still a serial killer and that's still a crime. Giving a serial killer a code and having him only go after bad guys is about the only way to make a serial killer a sympathetic character.

That said, I didn't like Lila much, either. Crazy codependent arsonist bisque. I thought the season with Jimmy Smits was very weak. Last season, with Trinity, was fantastic. That said, I will be very grateful never to have to see John Lithgow's naked asparagus again.

Sooooo don't give a crepe about the Angel/Maria dramz. I like the Santa Muerte storyline but honestly I feel like this season is way too scattered and is trying to follow too many story lines. They've developed the characters so much that I really don't feel like they need to be adding more story lines in addition to the ones they're trying to wrap up/follow from previous seasons.

Also, is it just me, or are they totally setting Deb up to be listening to candyman with the tattoo artist eventually?

Sooooo don't give a crepe about the Angel/Maria dramz. I like the Santa Muerte storyline but honestly I feel like this season is way too scattered and is trying to follow too many story lines. They've developed the characters so much that I really don't feel like they need to be adding more story lines in addition to the ones they're trying to wrap up/follow from previous seasons.

Also, is it just me, or are they totally setting Deb up to be listening to candyman with the tattoo artist eventually?

Yeah, Angel and Maria is so boring to me. I want to see death and blood! I'm torn as to whether or not there's going to be something weird with the babysitter. I think that there has to be, and it may be foreshadowing when earlier on in the season Deb said something like "I wonder why she left Ireland. Maybe she was running from something/someone." I hope that this season gets better soon.

I am completely not invested in the Santa Muerte killer at all. Maybe because Dexter isn't paying any attention to it?

And I do not like Quinn or trust him not to hurt Deb. And I am definitely suspicious of the nanny. Something about her demeanor when she called Dexter to sing with her to Harrison really creeped me out.

i feel like the deb/quinn storyline is just setting her up to get hurt again because of quinn's investigation into dexter. i am kinda sick of her always getting screwed over.

oooor deb could be the reason that quinn doesn't speak up about dexter (if he loves deb & doesn't want to lose her).

i'm suspicious of the nanny... but i have no idea where that will go. she can't possibly be as great as dexter thinks she is.

i am curious about julia stile's character. the part where she was in the tub, and where she was wearing rita's robe and dexter was having rita flashbacks... then the look dex was giving her when she was describing the "peace" the killing had given her... made me think that maybe they were going to fall in love & have some sort of killing mega-team.

maybe i'm just being really really picky, but this season sucks balls. the story lines are all over the place and i'm only watching because i'm addicted to the show in spite of this season's shitty writing. the writing was so solid for the 1st and 4th seasons.

I have to agree with most of the hate on this season so far. It feels really unfocused, which is so unlike previous seasons. I mean, they always have a lot going on, but there's never been so much that any one thing detracted from the thread that ran through the whole. Even when other stories seemed wholly unconnected to whatever Dexter was doing, it always managed to come back to the central point and pull everything together. This season, it's like a bunch of random plots that could all come from different shows, they make so little sense together.

I'd almost say season 2 was better. They really need to step it up if they want to come back from that assessment.

_________________A pie eating contest is a battle with no losers. - amandabear

maybe i'm just being really really picky, but this season sucks balls. the story lines are all over the place and i'm only watching because i'm addicted to the show in spite of this season's shitty writing. the writing was so solid for the 1st and 4th seasons.

Even though this one of the better episodes the season I pretty much have to agree with this.

I thought the first episode of the season was also really great but since episode two things have just been dragging.

There are just too many story lines with too many characters that I just don't care about. And there too many humongous holes in some of these plot lines. I am willing to "suspend belief" to a certain point but how many times we are supposed to believe that Dexter can keep narrowly escaping these seemingly impossible situations.

Still I am also addicted to the show- mostly because of Michael C. Hall who continues to be amazing regardless.